The Spinning Log: Why Australian Ninja Warrior contestants most feared this 'deceiving' obstacle

By Sam Downing| 1 year ago

"That was the devil, that thing."

The Australian Ninja Warrior semifinals are already a terrifying prospect — nine obstacles, making the mere five in the heats look like a piece of cake. But there was one obstacle that competitors especially feared: the Spinning Log.

"That was the devil, that thing," Jack Wilson, aka the Deadly Ninja. "That caught us by surprise [how challenging it was]. It took a lot of souls — it'd still haunt many of them to this day."

"I knew I'd struggle with that [obstacle] straight away," he tells Coach. "I had trained a lot and felt comfortable with my upper-body strength, but you can't really prepare for the Spinning Log. Where do you practice for it? You can't just find one in a gym."

Ryan believes he toppled off the Log because he "over-thought" it, rather than going at it hard.

"I second-guessed myself. I got inside my head," he says.

Six metres long and 22cm wide, the Spinning Log is described by the Ninja Warrior crew as "deceiving" because competitors underestimate how little room they have to move on it.

Wilson was one of the few in the third semifinal to make it across, telling Coach it's an especially tough obstacle because it demands a precise mix of skills that many people overlook: balance, agility and sheer speed.

"You could be the fittest guy in the world and able hang for more than five minutes on a bar but when it comes to something so simple like balance that threw off a lot of the competitors," he says.

Your fate on the Spinning Log is determined from the very first nanosecond your foot strikes it.

"Your first point of contact has to be pinpoint accuracy in the centre of the log," he advises. "And you have to be going at a million miles an hour, you can't hesitate… it's a split-second thing."

Ultimately, he credits his success on the Log with luck.

"It was my biggest worry [on the course], for sure," he says.

The Spinning Log returns to challenge Australian Ninja Warrior's competitors (with an added twist of difficulty) in the grand final on Tuesday, July 25. Catch up on every episode at 9Now.